because every cook praises her own broth

Jazzed up about corn.

I’m not one to get jazzed up about a vegetable recipe. A dessert recipe, yes. But a vegetable recipe, not so much. I like lots of vegetables just fine and probably even love a few of them, but veggie recipes usually don’t move me.

Yet every summer when I start flipping through the cooking magazines that I have subscriptions to, I get excited about corn recipes. I do love summer corn, on or off the cob, so this excitement makes sense. More than anything though, I think it’s that the pictures of recipes with corn in them just look beautiful. They’re so colorful and evocative of summer.This summer is no different and the current (July 2012) issue of Bon Appetit magazine had a recipe for charred corn salad with basil and tomatoes. As soon as I went to the grocery store again, I picked up a half dozen ears of corn so that I could create this salad for myself.The Bon Appetit recipe instructed me to grill the ears of corn in order to char them. Because it was about 100° F that day and because I’ve been too lazy to use my grill this year (and possibly too lazy to even check to see if we have charcoal), I chose to broil them in the oven. I think I got a pretty similar charred effect with much less effort.I also opted not to make my corn salad with basil. Mostly because I forgot to buy basil when I bought the corn. Since the recipe already had lime juice in it, I decided to throw in some cilantro instead since I had that on hand. And while I was at it, I added a touch of cumin because it goes so well with lime juice and cilantro. In the end, I guess my charred salad is bordering on charred corn salsa. And I think that’s a good thing.

The recipe said to serve this at room temperature. I liked it best at room temperature, but I think my husband liked it better chilled. Either way, it was delicious and a perfect side dish for a miserably hot summer evening. It would probably be a nice dish to bring to a barbeque too!

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